Robocalls (automated telephone calls conducted by a computerized system rather than by a human caller) generally are unwanted by the recipients.
Generally speaking, and not necessarily addressing robocalls, certain automated call screening systems have been disclosed in the patent literature:
US Pat. Pub. 20040131164 by Gould, for “Method and apparatus for automated telephone call screening,” published Jul. 8, 2004;
US Pat. Pub. 20060210032 by Grech et al. (Lucent Technologies, Inc.), for “Multilevel dynamic call screening,” published Sep. 21, 2006;
US Pat. Pub. 20110159856 by Walsh et al. (Oto Technologies, LLC), for “Apparatus and method of location based telecommunication authorization,” published Jun. 30, 2011.
However, people continue to be bothered by robocalls. There remains an unmet need for automated systems that stop robocalls from disturbing a telephone subscriber who does not want to receive a robocall.